Basic Concepts基本概念

The birth chart is the arrangement of heaven and earth at the moment of birth. The blueprint one is born with.

The birth chart is created by converting the year, month, day, and hour of one's birth into the sexagenary cycle — combinations of the ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches. It consists of four pillars: Year, Month, Day, and Hour, each composed of two characters — a Heavenly Stem and an Earthly Branch. Eight characters in total (八字, BaZi). The birth chart is a structure that captures the state of the cosmos at the moment of birth. It does not indicate a fixed fate, but is read as a topography of one's innate nature, tendencies, and possibilities. Bazen Sanmei positions the act of "reading" the chart not as fortune-telling, but as a practice of self-understanding. The chart is a letter addressed to yourself.

A cycle of sixty combinations of the ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches. The foundation of the system for expressing time in stems and branches.

The sexagenary cycle is a system of ten Heavenly Stems (甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸) combined with twelve Earthly Branches (子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥). The cycle completes at their least common multiple, sixty (the sixty stem-branch combinations). The sexagenary cycle has been used as a calendrical unit to represent year, month, day, and time. The birth chart is constructed by combining the stem-branches of the year, month, day, and hour of birth. "Eto" may refer to the twelve Earthly Branches alone; "kanshi" is the scholarly term referring to the combined system of the ten Heavenly Stems and twelve Earthly Branches.

The ten types: 甲, 乙, 丙, 丁, 戊, 己, 庚, 辛, 壬, 癸. A system dividing the Five Elements into Yin and Yang.

There are ten Heavenly Stems, each corresponding to one of the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) in either Yin or Yang polarity. 甲 (Yang Wood), 乙 (Yin Wood), 丙 (Yang Fire), 丁 (Yin Fire), 戊 (Yang Earth), 己 (Yin Earth), 庚 (Yang Metal), 辛 (Yin Metal), 壬 (Yang Water), 癸 (Yin Water). The Heavenly Stems represent the qi of "heaven" — the invisible, essential quality. They are placed in the upper position of each pillar in the chart. The judgment of the Ten Gods is performed by taking the Day Master (the Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar) as the reference, and observing its relationships with the other Stems.

The twelve types: 子, 丑, 寅, 卯, 辰, 巳, 午, 未, 申, 酉, 戌, 亥. A system encompassing season, direction, and time.

There are twelve Earthly Branches, each encompassing season, direction, time, Five Element, and Yin-Yang polarity. 子 (Winter, North, Water), 丑 (Late Winter, Northeast, Earth), 寅 (Early Spring, East, Wood) — and so on, each of the twelve Branches systematically reflecting the structure of the cosmos. The Earthly Branches represent the qi of "earth" — the manifested form, the concrete situation. They are placed in the lower position of each pillar. Within each Earthly Branch are hidden Heavenly Stems called Hidden Stems (蔵干, Zōkan), which become an important element of chart reading. Heavenly Stems reveal the essence; Earthly Branches reveal the manifested form — this correspondence of heaven and earth runs through the entire structure of the chart.

The five types: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water. A system for classifying all phenomena, and the grammar of the cosmos moving through Generation and Overcoming.

The Five Elements is a system that classifies all phenomena in the cosmos into five qualities. Wood (the force of growth), Fire (the force of radiance and expansion), Earth (the force of harmony and nurturing), Metal (the force of convergence), Water (the force of permeation) — these move in mutual relationships of Generation and Overcoming. Generation is the nurturing relationship: Wood → Fire → Earth → Metal → Water → Wood. Overcoming is the restraining relationship: Wood → Earth → Water → Fire → Metal → Wood. This dynamic relationship creates the flow of qi within the chart. The Five Elements are not merely a classification but the dynamic grammar of the cosmos. To read a chart is to read the flow of the Five Elements.

The principle of dividing all things into two polarities. Not opposition, but two complementary faces.

Yin-Yang is the principle that reveals the two polarities present in all phenomena in the cosmos. Yang indicates the active, manifest, outward-facing quality; Yin indicates the receptive, latent, inward-facing quality. Yet this is not opposition — it is a complementary relationship. In the chart, both Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches carry Yin or Yang polarity. 甲 is Yang Wood, 乙 is Yin Wood. 子 is Yang Water (the Hidden Stem within 子 is 癸 and 壬), 丑 is Yin Earth — and so on. Bazen Sanmei treats Yin and Yang as two faces without hierarchy. Yang is not good and Yin is not bad. Together they constitute the world. All sixty-four hexagrams of the I Ching arise from combinations of Yin and Yang.

The Heavenly Stem of the Day Pillar. The reference point for chart reading. The Stem that indicates "you yourself."

The Day Master is the Heavenly Stem portion of the Day Pillar (the stem-branch of the day of birth). In the "Day-Master-centered reading" established by Xu Ziping of the Northern Song, the Day Master becomes the reference point for all reading. "The Heavenly Stem of one's day of birth is one's very self" — from this vantage, the relationships between the Day Master and all other Heavenly Stems and Hidden Stems are read. These relationships give rise to the Ten Gods (十神, Jisshin). The Day Master is like the central star in the star chart that is the birth chart. Every other star shifts in meaning depending on how it is positioned relative to this center. To know the Day Master is the first step in reading the chart.